About

H. L. Siddons, Jr.

Mr. Siddons has made the following remarkable forecasts that have come true or will come true: 

Year    Prediction

• 1979 - By the year 2000 many computers will be the size of today's calculators but have the capabilities of more recent computers of the day. (1996-2000 PalmPilot, Windows CE devices/palmtops)
  
• 1987 - CD-ROM will become a common peripheral of the PC within five years (1992). (Actual occurrance:1994).
  

• 1987 - The Year 2000 problem will created a new business opportunity for new companies and firms to make millions. (Actual occurrance:1995-2000 a 600 billion dollar industry).

• 1989:  AT&T enters the Cable Television business by 2000 (Actual occurrence 1999-2000)  2006 - SBC merges with AT&T and is back in the cable TV business with VOIP.

• 1989 - A public national wide area network of computers will emerge within five years (mid 1990's) (Actual occurrance:1994 a.k.a. the Internet).
  

• 1989 - HDTV or DTV will begin to replace analog television by the year 2000. (Actual occurrence: 2000-2006)

• 1989:  Computers, TV and the phone will merge (convergence: begins 1990-2000+, becomes reality 2004-2006)

• 1989:  Windows will replace DOS on PC's in the 1990s (Actual occurrence: 1994)

• 1990 - The Communications Act legislation that is being suggested that will break the barriers between the long distance, local and cable television systems will provoke a confusing battle of company alliances, buyouts as well as create new companies and products. (Actual occurrance:1996-2001).
  
• 1994 - The World Wide Web will have profound implications in the computer world as businesses begin to provide information and commerce. (Actual occurrance:1996).
  
• 1997 - DVD will replace VCR and laserdisk as the preferred movie medium once the DVDRAM becomes established within five years (2002). DVD for computers will replace the CD-ROM common peripheral within three years (2000).  First consumer DVD recorders came out in 2002 as predicted.  High Def DVD and Blue Ray appeared in 2006.
  
• 1997 - DIVX will fail (1999)
• 1999 - Microsoft will not be split-up despite the rulings.  However the company will spin off lines of business to focus on the future.

Since 1970, and perhaps much earlier, Mr. Siddons has studied technology and the future as a both a laymen and a professional with unbridled passion. Having been a long time closeted visionary and technophile, he has decided to finally "come out".

Mr. Siddons has over twenty years work experience in the computer industry spanning several companies including Ernst & Young and AT&T, where he has made contributions in cutting edge information based technologies. His expertise, knowledge and acumen have been sought out by those within and outside of those organizations. His insight, intuition and in some cases, uncanny prognostications have earned him an interesting, if not dubious, somewhat presumptuous reputation bordering on almost psychical abilities.

A veritable one-man think tank and lay futurist, Mr. Siddons attributes this to his intense research skills, his deep understanding of consumer demand and tastes, notwithstanding his delving into the multifaceted impact of new technological products and services upon the human condition...

Mr. Siddons is the quintessential lay consumer and computer technology and services researcher and consultant.

Mr. Siddons, born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Denver, Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia but has resided most of his life in Orlando, Florida. He attended the University of Central Florida studying computer science in the early 1980's. Besides his predilection with the future, he is an avid reader, music and movie buff...

In 1986 he started Conceptual Resources, Inc, a computer consulting firm specializing in microcomputer based database management systems in dBase, Clipper and later Microsoft Access.

In 1995 he first published the Graphic City Guides on the World Wide Web which now garner more than 100,000 hits per year. In 1996 he designed the Intranet Tax Web for AT&T. He is now converting Tax applications from MS-Access to Microsoft's .NET for AT&T's intranet.

FutureCast Research and The Future Chronicles are the brainchild of H. L. Siddons, Jr.
FutureCast Research, established in 1996, is as a multifaceted evolutionary information broker, research and development, organization.